QPR bid a fond farewell to talismanic centre forward Charlie Austin on Saturday as he moved to Southampton for £4m. But his success, and move, is something to rejoice in, rather than lament.
Charlie Austin was an atypical Queens Park Rangers player from the moment he arrived, and not just because he scored goals prolifically.
Just turned 24, Austin was an up and coming name in the game. His-oft quoted background in non-league and on building sites had shown him another side of life, not a side he was overly keen to go back to, and it made him hungry to succeed with the club and in the sport as a whole.
He was a player who saw QPR as a big move for him, rather than a backwards or sideways step. Yes, Burnley had been in the Premier League for a season reasonably recently, and as it turned out would get there again with Rangers a year later, but at the time QPR, newly relegated but still throwing money around, looked a likely bet to regain their spot in the top flight.
Few players from the Championship enjoy plenty of first team football when signed directly by Premier League clubs, but if you can get promoted into the top flight from the second tier and play for your own club up there big things can happen. Harry Redknapp, the manager who signed Austin, rightly pointed to Rickie Lambert, who'd gone from a lower league journeyman with the likes of Stockport and Rochdale to an England and Liverpool striker by firing Southampton up two divisions himself.
"There's absolutely no reason Charlie can't go on to play for England," Redknapp said at the time, and he was exactly right.
It should be mentioned that Austin didn't exactly come cheap for a Championship side - £4m — and nor was he Redknapp's first choice. The veteran manager spent most of the summer pursuing Celtic striker Gary Hooper before he chose Premier League football with Norwich instead, and has pretty much stagnated ever since.
It's also worth repeating that for all the money spent on Redknapp's watch — the wage bill topped a Championship record £79m for that 2013/14 season — the majority of it was spent on typical QPR, typical Redknapp signings who offered no benefit to Rangers whatsoever much beyond the next five games. No sell on value, no long term team building, no nothing.
And, of course, if QPR had been doing things properly, they'd have signed Austin from Swindon Town when Burnley did, and Matt Phillips from Wycombe rather than Blackpool.
But in Austin and Phillips, Redknapp and Rangers bucked their trend to great effect. Excellent young players, talented boys, with their whole future ahead of them, lots of potential sell-on value and lots of incentive to do well for the club. Both, arguably, coming to the biggest club of their careers so far. Austin immediately took on the number nine shirt because "I thought I want to give this a proper good go."
For years QPR had been signing the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joey Barton and Jose Bosingwa who had none of those things. They replaced Paddy Kenny with Rob Green, then immediately replaced him with Julio Cesar, increasing the monthly outgoings on the goalkeeping department more than ten fold with no noticeable improvement to the goalkeeping. In so many cases, with players like Wright-Phillips and Luke Young, the club had to take their medicine and simply wait for the gross contracts handed out to expire because no other club would be as stupid enough to sign such players, on such contracts, with such a carefree approach to medical examinations so they couldn't be shifted.
But here, in Austin and Phillips, the club had acquired two real assets.
Unfortunately, Austin was atypical right down to the bitter end. He could have doubled his money or more at QPR, several times. The club, realising what they had on their hands, offered him numerous contract extensions. He could have tripled it last summer, when Leicester, Newcastle and Palace were sniffing around. For all the talk of them not meeting the £15m asking price, had Austin said he wanted to leave and join any of them he'd have gone — the power is with the player in the modern game.
But Austin, like so few before him at Rangers, was motivated by career progression and family rather than how to make money the quickest. He didn't want to move to the north or north east, nor to a lower midtable club that could potentially land him back in the Championship in 12 months time — who would honestly have predicted Leicester's meteoric rise six months ago? It's why newspaper reports he might join Aston Villa this January were so laughable.
He wanted a club established in the top half of the Premier League, which would develop him as a player, and allow him to continue living near his family and fledgling race-horse business. He wanted to join Southampton and had they sold Saido Mane last summer he may have gone then for £12m. Had Liverpool not now been sniffing around Shane Long he may have waited until the summer and gone for nothing. But he wasn't in a rush to make a move he didn't want to make.
In the end he got the one he wanted and QPR had to settle for a lower fee because of his contract situation. But that's through no fault of their own — quite the opposite in fact. It's merely scant reward for actually doing it right for a change.
It's easy to say that, as somebody who used to carry brick for a living, Charlie Austin should be more durable than most footballers. But his drive to get QPR, and therefore himself, into the Premier League was rarely better shown than in a January league match with Bolton at Loftus Road in his first season.
Coming in ostensibly to compete with Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson for the striking spots he had, not surprisingly, outlasted them both. He'd scored consistently, almost right from the off, with a dozen goals in the first half of the season — given his record at Burnley (45 in 75 starts and 16 sub appearances) that wasn't much of a shock either.
He'd quickly grown into QPR's main man, grabbing a wide variety of goals that were often, despite Rangers' colossal financial advantage over everybody else in the division, the difference on the scorecard at the end of the game. In a dire match with Charlton he settled it with a pearler from 30 yards. In an even worse New Year's Day game against Doncaster he planted a fearsome header into the top corner in injury time.
But there was a persistent problem with a shoulder injury. He would take to the field with all manner of tape and bandages bound round his upper torso to hold the whole thing in place. Against Bolton at Loftus Road things finally, literally, fell apart on him, but he remained on the field, arm hanging limply by his side, in pain, long enough to score one and set another up. Assuming, rightly, that would be about enough for the team to see through the win without him, he finally succumbed to a substitution. Even then it felt like they were rather dragging him off.
Nobody epitomised the 'find a way' mentality of the end of that season more than Austin, who bagged two to rescue a 1-0 deficit in the play-off semi-final against Wigan, and then filled in at left wing in the final after Gary O'Neil was sent off.
But would he, we wondered, be able to step up to the Premier League?
Initially, things didn't look promising. He seemed weighed down by the possibility of his first ever top flight goal when stepping up to take a penalty against Hull on the first day — having seemed nerveless with spot kicks previously, this time he saw his shot saved. Keeper Allan McGregor admitting afterwards they'd picked up a tick in his run up that gave a clue as to his choice of direction when analysing his kicks pre-game an indication that this wasn't the Championship any more, and his standards would have to raise. A week later, at Spurs, injury kept him out of the side altogether and although he did break his duck against Sunderland, he looked rather off the pace.
Here's the second example of his drive, will to succeed and desire to better himself and push on in his career coming to the fore. Prolific goalscorers often find it hardest of all to step up divisions — we've seen it before with the likes of Billy Sharp, Andy Thomson, Jermaine Beckford and others. Defenders don't make as many mistakes, the ball doesn't drop in the penalty box as often, goalkeepers are sharper and let in fewer softies, the time you have to get your shot away is reduced and the amount of times that chance comes along in a game likewise.
Austin worked on his game. He worked on his touch, he worked on his first time finishing, he worked on everything. He improved, once again, beyond all recognition. He scored a goal of wonderful poise and balance at Southampton, and followed it up with two first time finishes against Aston Villa — no messing about, no extra unnecessary touch, just bang and in. There was a running joke in our group around this time that as soon as somebody opened their mouth to write him off, he shoved a goal in there — separate people were busy telling me he wouldn't make it at the highest level at the very moment his Southampton and first against Villa flew in the net.
By November he was absolutely terrorising championship contenders Manchester City in W12, scoring once, having two others disallowed, and generally giving the billion pound team an absolute nightmare.
He ended the season with 18 Premier League goals in a dreadful team which finished dead last. That achievement was largely overlooked by the national press, the national team and the broadcasters. Possibly it was because they hadn't seen QPR at close quarters all season, hadn't seen how utterly devoid of any clue or ambition they'd been in every away game up to the New Year, hadn't seen how hard it was for them to create chances. Or possibly it was big-club snobbery.
The QPR fans, not easily impressed and certainly not shy of running down and denigrating their own players, know the truth. It was an awesome feat. Had his contract been longer, somebody probably would have paid £15m for him last summer, and so they should have done. I suspect he'll step up again at Southampton, score prolifically, win England caps and possibly move on to a bigger club still.
Which is why, like seeing a picture of the ex-girlfriend who broke your heart on the arm of another, better looking, more successful man, it's so difficult to see him holding up a red and white striped shirt and leaving us all behind.
It is never easy for football fans to accept, because after all we'd never leave our club for another. But it's something QPR supporters should not only accept, but start to enjoy in a weird way.
We should be actively seeking out more Charlie Austins — more players of that age, that potential, with that mentality. We should be bringing them in here, giving them their chance and have them vested in our club because after all if they're doing well and the team is doing well then it's benefiting both of us. He shouldn't be the exception, he should just be one of many on the production line.
And when the time comes, we sell on (hopefully at a sizeable profit) and we wish them well on their way and hope very much that they tear the place apart at their new club, because it reflects well on our club as a place where players can come and improve and advance their careers as opposed to a place for rich old soaks to come and get a little bit richer at the end of their footballing lives.
Being a stepping stone provides a sustainable model for a club of our size to survive, but it's also no hindrance to performance on the pitch. Peterborough United have regular forays into the Championship despite a League Two-sized average gate. Southampton themselves furnish Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs with players and managers at colossal profit, but also maintain a place in the top half of the Premier League and compete in cup competitions.
Because if you've got a team full of players with a vested interest in them, and the team, doing well, lo and behold they and the team do a good deal better than if you're merely a landing area for players too old, too badly behaved, too injured, too much trouble, earning too much money or simply not bloody good enough for anybody else to want.
Austin was superb for QPR. The key now is making sure he, and to some extent Matt Phillips, don't remain one offs at this club.
2013/14
Appearances: 34 starts and 3 sub appearances
Scoresheet: 20 goals scored (Exeter A, Birmingham H, Yeovil A, Barnsley H, Barnsley H, Boro H, Millwall A, Charlton H, Doncaster A, Bournemouth H, Blackpool A, Doncaster H, Huddersfield H, Bolton H, Watford H, Millwall H, Barnsley A, Wigan H p/off, Wigan H p/off) 6 assists (Ipswich A, Reading A, Derby H, Barnsley H, Yeovil A, Ipswich H), W22 D7 L8
Discipline: 3 yellows (foul, foul, unsporting conduct)
LFW Ratings: 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 8, 7, 8, 7, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 6 = 6.324
Fans’ Average Rating: 6.95
Man of the Match Awards: 5 (Exeter A, Barnsley H, Doncaster H, Huddersfield H, Wigan H p/off)
2014/15
Appearances: 36 starts, 0 sub appearances
Scoresheet: 18 goals (Sunderland H, Southampton A, Villa H, Villa H, Chelsea A, Man City H, Leicester H, Burnley H, West Brom H, West Brom H, West Brom H, Arsenal A, Burnley A, Hull A, Arsenal H, West Brom A, Villa A, Leicester A), 10 assists (Liverpool H, Man City H, Leicester H, Burnley H, Burnley A, Stoke A, Spurs H, Everton H, West Brom A, Newcastle H)
Discipline: 1 red (2 yellows, foul, foul, Burnley H), 6 yellows (foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, kicking ball away)
LFW Ratings: 6, 7, 5, 6, 6, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 5, 8, 6, 7, 9, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 5, 6, 4, 7, 6 = 6.19
Man of the Match Awards 4 (Man City H, West Brom H, Arsenal H, Spurs H)
2015/16
Appearances: 12 starts, 4 sub appearances
Scoresheet: 10 goals (Cardiff H, Wolves A, Rotherham H, Rotherham H, Forest H, Blackburn H, Hull A, Leeds H, Brighton H, Brighton H) 1 assist (Rotherham H)
Discipline: Four yellows (foul, retaking field without permission, foul, foul)
LFW Ratings: 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 5, 7, 8, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 8 = 6.187
Fans Ratings: 5.96
Man of the Match Awards: 3 (Blackburn H, Hull A, Brighton H)
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